Letter to the Editor: Smith says merging schools bad idea

I don’t know who is spreading the crazy election-season rumor, but it isn’t true. I have never proposed, and I do not support merging Oak Ridge schools into one of the county systems. Apparently a rumor is going around that claims that I want to combine our schools with one of the county systems. That would be a bad idea.

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Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

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Posted Oct. 22, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Updated Oct 22, 2012 at 12:20 PM

Posted Oct. 22, 2012 at 12:00 PM
Updated Oct 22, 2012 at 12:20 PM

Oak Ridge, Tenn.

To the editor:

I don’t know who is spreading the crazy election-season rumor, but it isn’t true. I have never proposed, and I do not support merging Oak Ridge schools into one of the county systems. Apparently a rumor is going around that claims that I want to combine our schools with one of the county systems. That would be a bad idea.

The excellent Oak Ridge schools are one of the city’s greatest strengths and a source of community pride. Throughout the city’s history, Oak Ridge parents (myself included) have had high expectations for their children’s education and have held the schools to the highest standards. I believe most citizens favor continuing the high level of financial support that our city has traditionally provided — and continues to provide — to its schools.

For me, and most Oak Ridgers, it would be unthinkable to give our fine city school system to one of the county systems — systems that serve communities with different educational expectations and that provide much less funding per pupil. The August 2004 referendum, in which Oak Ridgers voted overwhelmingly for a 1/2-cent sales tax increase dedicated to high school renovation, showed the breadth and intensity of public support for our city schools.

Several months ago, some city residents began to tell me that they thought that Oak Ridge schools should be consolidated into the Anderson County system. The first time I heard this, my reaction was disbelief (How could anyone even consider it?). After I heard the idea from several more people, I got concerned.

I interpreted these comments as an indication that some of my fellow citizens were losing confidence in our school system. The people who suggested school district consolidation to me were particularly concerned about two things: (1) continuing growth in the school budget, even while enrollment was falling, and (2) the news that the portion of that 1/2-cent sales tax that is now collected by the county and distributed to the Oak Ridge schools was no longer being made available to help pay the debt for the high school project.

I have a guess about how the bad rumor got started. At a public meeting earlier this year involving City Council and Board of Education members, I commented that the school system’s unwillingness to use county sales tax for the high school debt could undermine public support for the schools (because it means breaking the promise made at the time of the sales tax referendum, that the school project would not require a property tax increase). I mentioned the shocking suggestion I had heard from citizens that the schools should be “given” to the county as disturbing evidence that public support for the schools was eroding.

Page 2 of 2 - Maybe my words were grossly misinterpreted by someone who was in the room but was only half-listening. Regardless of how the rumor started, it isn’t true — and I hope people will stop talking about it. I have not heard any City Council member or candidate suggest school district consolidation.